Harkovast- the forum

The Zadakine physically resemble weasels, and have a culture that borrows a few elements from ancient Carthage (though with MANY fantasy elements added.)They are associated with Dark and Mind magic.

The Zadakine have a unique culture that is often difficult for outsiders to understand, leading to many misapprehensions.Family is the most important thing in Zadakine culture. Supporting and providing opportunities for ones children is the most important duty one can have.Zadakine believe that the most meaningful way to do this, is through the accumulation of wealth. Business, trade and capitalism allow people to rise above their station and provide security and prosperity for their children's future.Outsiders often characterise Zadakine as greedy and loving money, but this is not accurate to what drives the Zadakine. Money is simply the most effective means to the end of helping ones family. Zadakine are also often characterised by outsiders as cowardly and underhanded. This stems from he fact that Zadakine dislike war and open conflict, preferring to settle things through cunning, diplomacy and (when violence is necessary) assassinations. Zadakine assassins are much feared for their skill and rival the abilities of the assassins of the Nymus republic.Zadakine society is has great gender inequality, with women having far more rights and power than men.The basic social unity of Zadakine society is an extended family led by matriarchs who act as the leaders of the families business interests and finances.Inheritance, marriage and property laws all favour females. For example, the criteria for a man to be convicted of rape are very low, with a man's testimony being considered less valuable than a womman's. Women are considered to be cleverer, more cunning and more able to manage important matters than males , who are more suited to physical labour, fighting and for procreation.Zadakine consider the love between two women to be superior to that between a man and a woman (since it lacks the inferior element that a male would provide.) Also, from a political and financial point of view, two powerful women marrying allows them to unite their two families resources and businesses, making this potentially incredibly important. Aside from providing amusement for his wife and helping her have babies, there is not a great deal a man can bring to marriage under Zadakine law.Zadakine women in positions of power will often have male partners for purposes of procreation and then female partners for political purposes (whose company she actually prefers is a matter of personal taste.)Female prostitutes fill an interesting role in Zadakine society. While it is considered a lowly job for a woman to take (implying she lacks any kind of business sense to make money by any other means) it is not considered shameful or immoral. As well as providing their services to frustrated males, prostitutes are also commonly hired by families on behalf of their sons when they come of age. Is this scenario the prostitute is expected to provide the son with education on sex and romance and how to please women. If a man wants to avoid a life of manual labour or joining the army, then marrying a richer woman is his best hope. Considering how easily a Zadakine woman can divorce a man, leaving him penniless in the process, knowing how to please women can be an essential skill.Zadakine politics are fierce and cut throat (sometime literally!) Their nation was from the unification of various powerful families, creating what is still called the Zadakine Alliance (even though is now one, unified nation.) The Alliance is ruled by The Shadow Council. As their name implies, the council is secretive and give little information about themselves. They hide their identities and meet in secret at undisclosed locations. This level of secrecy is considered necessary to avoid assassinations or their political opponents working against them to undermine them. The exact method by which one joins the Shadow Council and how its members are chosen are governed by secret rules that are not widely known. A life in Zadakine politics is only appropriate for the most brave, ruthless and ambitious. This is the way Zadakine like things. Cleverness and ambition are rewarded with success and wealth, the stupid and the timid are swept aside. This also plays into another aspect of Zadakine psychology- a lack of trust.Zadakine don't like to put their trust in anyone, not even other Zadakine if they can avoid it. Giving people information about one's self is always a risk, and it is not uncommon for Zadakine to use false names with people they don't know.This is another reason why family is so important to Zadakine, as family you can trust and depend on.Another misconception about Zadakine is that they are dishonest. While it is true that Zadakine can be very sly and cunning, in some matters they have codes of honour for which they will stand as firmly as any Darsai knight would for his Chivalry.Most obvious is their family loyalties. To suffer or even die to ensure the wellbeing of ones children is the most noble act in the minds of the Zadakine, and if you harm a member of their family, you can expect them to go to great lengths to seek revenge or reparations.Another important aspect of Zadakine society is the idea that being indebt to another person is a great source of shame. If someone does work for you and you don't pay them for it, or if someone gives you goods and you don't give anything in return, this would be considered a great embarrassment to a Zadakine and they are always eager to settle such matters as quickly as possible. This leads to a situation that Zadakine feel obliged to pay for any service they receive, even if no payment was requested. For example, a Zadakine asking directions might give a few pennies to the person who gives them the information they need. Though this is just a small, token payment, the gesture is very important to a Zadakine. To refuse to accept a payment from them would be taken as an insult, since you are refusing to allow them to clear their debt to you.Because of their desire to not owe people something, Zadakine law forbids slavery and Zadakine generally take a very low view of this practice. Despite this, some unscrupulous Zadakine take advantage of a loop hole in the laws. While Zadakine are not allowed to keep slaves and put them to work, the actual act of trading slaves is allowed. There are vast amounts of wealth to be made acting as middle persons between the Ivos Empire and Tahpen in Vellastrom, and the Tendu Raj and the Knarl Empire. They may also purchase slaves captured by Brorg-Dao on their raids, selling them on for great profit.The Zadakine worship a Goddess known as The All Mother. This figure is depicted as permanently pregnant (having used her divine power to impregnate herself). The baby within her (known as The All Child) is considered by the Zadakine to be the personification of their race's life force and hope for the future.The All Mother personifies the ideal of motherhood, as well cleverness and leadership. Interestingly, the Zadakine religion makes no real mention of money or wealth whatsoever, these ideas are cultural to the Zadakine, not theological. But since the Zadakine don't see anything crass about business dealings or money making, it is considered completely normal after a priestess has finished a sermon, for the congregation to start trading, conducting business deals, selling goods and even for prostitutes to start soliciting clients.The priestesses of The All Mother are uniformly albino and are commonly referred to as Truth Callers. They have the ability to use mind magic to detect dishonesty and deception and so are commonly employed for important negotiations to ensure the honesty of all involved. Foriegn diplomats and merchants are understandably reluctant to submit to what many view as some kind of sinister Zadakine mind reading (whether they are trying to lie or not!)The Zadakine's armies are held in low esteem and so are often relatively poorly led and under paid. However, in times of war the Zadakine supplement their armies with large numbers of mercenaries, hired from all across Vellastrom.The also make use of a massive lizard creatures, known as Bralk's. These massive beasts are slow and dim witted. The Zadakine mount howdah's on the creatures backs to use them as mobile fortresses in battle. The Bralks have rocky growths on their skin that renders them very difficult to hurt and are especially useful during sieges, where they can be run into the enemy gates as living battering rams.Zadakine armies are supported by their assassins, acting as highly skilled light infantry as well as their usual role of spies and killers.They also make use of an elite warrior order known as The Sacred Band, an all male force of religious warriors, who provide and elite core to the Zadakine's often rather unprofessional armies. These troops are also known as the Army of Lovers, as the members are encouraged to form romantic and sexual bonds with the other members. The logic behind this is that a man would not want to shame himself by being cowardly in front of the one he loves. For entertainment Zadakine enjoy gambling. Games and contests without money riding on them are considered tame and boring to them. Within their cities, the night life is often wild and exciting, though it can prove dangerous for the unwary traveller, who made found themselves robbed or taken advantage of if they do not keep their wits about them.The Zadakine capital is Utopia City, located on Utopia Island, just off the shore of South western Vellastorm. They also have holdings on the main land, but it is on the Islands that the bulk of their population and infrastructure is housed, the sea providing safety from possible enemies.The Zadakine have a long history of tension with the Nymus. While they have not fought many open conflicts, their business and trade empires often end up competing.Their governments have no official policy that they are enemies, but the population of the two nations harbour a lot of hatred and mistrust for each other.A resent influx of Zadakine into the Nymus republic, seeking to exploit business opportunities there has only increased tensions.Nymus commonly refer to Zadakine by the racial insult “Zado” and characterise them as cowardly, greedy, underhanded and with rotten and crooked teeth.The Zadakine for their part, commonly refer to Nymus as “beaks” and characterise them as arrogant, snooty and jealous of Zadakine success and cleverness.

Interesting society. If I wasn't a guy I could certainly get along well there, what with my miserly attitude. They might not like being in debt, but obviously if their people like to gamble then debt among some people is pretty much a given. How do they deal with people who owe and can't pay? They can't make them their slaves, and if they hold wealth in such high regard would they execute them? It's not like a corpse can repay you.

An army of male lovers? Sounds like something I read about from the Med in ancient times, although they weren't Carthaginian, they were from somewhere in Attica or Italy.

So… in terms of sexuality, at least, and probably emphasis on warfare, Zadakine are the exact opposite of the Ivos… interesting considering that the two base cultures beat the ever loving daylight outta each other.

Renard, Zadakine consider being in debt to be shameful and being smart and being good with money to be very important. For this reason, few Zadakine would gamble so mcuh as to harm their finances in a serious way.Those that do and ended up in debt would end up repaying it over time at a huge rate of interest, or perhaps agreeing to some sort of unpaided work till the money was recovered. Complete refusal to repay would result in one being thrown in prison (Zadakine would view such a cad with absolute contempt!)Of course, the sheeer shame of not only owing something you cant repay but having done so out of pure stupidity and lack of self control would be unbearable for any self respecting Zadakine.Many would consider suicide rather then have to face friends and family after such an abject failure.It is worth noting that Zadakine capitalism is very much about rewarding success. Zadakine like social mobility through wealth, so if you can do well you can rise to the very top of their society from very humble beginnings.The down side to this is that for those that fail, even through no fault of their own, there is little or no safety net. Zadakine dont feel the successful should have to waste time helping failures or those too dim to get themselves out of poverty. They would argue that if you want to get out of poverty, work harder and (more importantly) smarter! Zadakine would consider giving someone charity an insult anyway (though a Zadakine might help another while only offering a token service in return, to simply give something and not ask for anything back is to make a mockery of the person you are giving to.) Appeals to family members for help would be the best bet for a Zadakine in financial trouble, as society at large would most likely let them starve on the streets.

The Divine Brotherhood are based on the Sacred Band of Thebes. Not Carthaginian, so I am mixing my ancient cultures a bit there. (And why not.) Carthage did have a sacred band unit, but they did not share the army of lovers aspect.

Canuovea- Yeah I suppose in those ways they are pretty reversed on the Ivos. What a fun coincidence, as that was not planned when I was making them.

Additionally- I just edited the original post…wow I sure cant type!Its amazing you guys can even understand the stuff I type. In places it was incoherant!

Looking at the map and reading about these weasels I'm willing to bet the Golta learned of Tolpish greed from these people. The treatment of the indebted is pretty extreme, and that's coming from a routine lender!

I would assume then that most of the population is well off to some degree, lest there be rumblings of discontent in the lower classes.

Poor people in the Zadakine alliance dont grumble about their plight.They just aspire to become rich themselves.Social mobility is very important in the Zadakine society and pulling ones self up from humble beginnings is considered a virtue.Zadakine generally believe that any of them has the potential to become a big success (even though clearly not all will.) So when they see a richer Zadakine they don't resent them, so much as admire them and want to emulate/replace them.Zadakine are very aspirational like that.Anyone in the Alliance can make it big and bring wealth and prosperity to their children, they just have to have what it takes.

Is it my poor knowledge of Carthaginian civilisation (I blame the Romans), or are Zadakine much less based on their Earth counterparts than any of the races we've seen so far? They're much more fantastic and I like that.

I have some questions: first, are Zadakine polygamous? You seem to suggest here that they can have both male and female partners at once.

Second, do women even need to marry males for procreation purposes? With the amount of inequality they seem to have, it appears a wealthy women could just snatch a random man off the street, have him impregnate her and then throw away (giving him a few pennies of course!). Who would hold it against her? The guy's family, maybe, but if men legally contribute nothing to the marriage, then what's the point anyway? Also, since they are so useless, wouldn't Zadakine have a kind of, you know, “preference” for having female children? Like, getting rid of a baby if it turns out to be a boy?

Third, that All Child. Seriously, what's up with that? Is it ever supposed to be born (bringing Rangorok upon the world, no doubt), or does everything it ever do is being a godly fetus (like those guys)? Should we read any Freudian subtexts from the fact that the Zadakine race sees itself personified by an unborn baby?

Lastly, do Zadakine glorify only female to female love or homosexuality in general, seeing as they have those Divine Brothers (does it count as incest as well)?

The Zadakine are very fantastical, you are right. They borrow some concepts from America and also have loads of made up elements are well. They are amongst the most fantastical of all the societies in Harkovast.

Yes, Zadakine can be polygamus, Women can have multiple wives and husbands…though men can have only one wife.

Zadakine society just not consider males worthless, males have an important role in society. Zadakine are not “man hating” in any sense. They simply believe women are suited to leadership, authority and decision making in a way that makes are not.Zadakine men do have rights, but their rights are not equal to a womans.

Now when creating Zadakine society I wanted to make a society unfairly weighted to favour women, but I didn't want to make it the stereotypical thing of women just behaving like men or hating men.A Zadakine woman could have sex with a man and then divorce him, but most women (Zadakine or otherwise) would not like the idea of having a random man have sex with them, impregnate them, and then have that man leave offering them no support while they are left to raise the child.In that kind of situation it seems that the man gets free sex and leaves the woman to deal with it. That seems to be a senario that men would want, not women!

Marriage is pretty important to Zadakine, and Zadakine women are perfectly capable of being in love with or attracted to men. Like most women, they want stable partners to help with the raising of their children and supporting the family, as well as for company and companionship.Marriage is largely seen as a political and social method of advancement to the Zadakine, a way to build important bonds between families.Sleeping around and having many partners you are not married to would harm these bonds and damage those social ties. Infidelity could completely break a family up (harming the children no end!) Doing something that is disruptive to business or the family would be frowned upon as very stupid and immoral by the Zadakine.

In the same way that a male run society does not necessarily endorse a man abducting women, raping them and kicking them out on the street, a female run society does not have to go to such extremes either.

Atropal….I hate those fucking things.No really.If I was playing DnD and the GM said “You are fighting an aborted God Fetus” I would stop playing there and then. I would just walk. Ya gotta draw the line somewhere.

The All Child is depicted as very much alive! The Zadakine idealise motherhood so a pregnant woman is the symbol of what is best to them (in the same way that many of our religions idealise virginity in women….Zadakine definitely don't share that one!)The idea that the birth of the All Child could herald the end of the world is interesting. Possibly it would mean some kind of ascension of their race? I must give this theological issue some thought.

if you pointed out the Freudian issues to the Zadakine they would probably get very pissed off! That would be like saying to a Christian….okay I wont give an example cause I dont want to offend people….but you can imagine your own I am sure.

Zadakine glorify female to female love. They dont object to male to male love, but they dont really give it much thought.To the Zadakine such a relationship would surely be a side show? An amusing hobby at best? After all, since marrying women is what moves all the wealth and power around, what is the point of two men marrying? From a political and business point of view it doesn't get much done, and they cant have kids. A gay Zadakine man would either have to remain relatively poor, marry a woman and hope she does not find out (or does not mind!) him visiting a male lover when she is not looking, or join the divine brotherhood (though getting into that elite force is not easy!)

Hmmm, I had not considered that there was an incest implication with the divine brotherhood. Zadakine are not okay with incest. I just called them the divine brotherhood cause it sounds cool.I could just call them the Sacred Band (cause that is what they are!) Thinking about it I am not sure why I didn't call them that in the first place.I will go change it.

Yes, Zadakine can be polygamus, Women can have multiple wives and husbands…though men can have only one wife.

Interesting. But does that mean one woman can be married to another who is married to another one who is not married to the first one, giving Zadakine marriages a possibility to look like some abstract graphs? Or does it all flatten to “everyone with everyone” when a new person is added?

Zadakine society just not consider males worthless, males have an important role in society. Zadakine are not “man hating” in any sense. (…) A Zadakine woman could have sex with a man and then divorce him, but most women (Zadakine or otherwise) would not like the idea of having a random man have sex with them, impregnate them, and then have that man leave offering them no support while they are left to raise the child.

Ok, maybe I interpolated a bit too much, but in your original post you kinda drew that image of a miserable Zadakine man, who would better know how to please his wife sexually, lest she drop him on the street with no means to sustain himself other than getting a hard manual job or joining the (scorned by it's own nation!) army. And that "Aside from providing amusement for his wife and helping her have babies , there is not a great deal a man can bring to marriage under Zadakine law.", so if everyone is expected to be as efficient as can be, there doesn't seem (to me at least) to be any reason to marry a man at all, since why support an one-off (ok, maybe multiple-off in some cases) breeder if you could have babies anyway without the additional load. It doesn't necessarily mean being unfaithful and breaking up the family - your wife surely understands you have to get those babies from somewhere, and she will get full legal rights to them anyway (whereas their father, whoever it is, will get none), so that's a full family, everything's peachy.I suppose falling in love with a man could factor somewhere it that all, but again, if you're thinking about love you're being selfish and not caring about the future.

I'm mostly confused now. Is that a trick to imprint upon readers the stereotypes other nations have about Zados?

The All Child is depicted as very much alive! The Zadakine idealise motherhood so a pregnant woman is the symbol of what is best to them

Yeah, I got that about a pregnant woman, but what's the All Child in itself? Apart from being there to fill it's mothers belly? Why do Zadakine feel it represents them?

Hmmm, the idea of a marriage web is kinda cool, I like that.Most Zadakine women would only marry one mother woman, but for a very powerful or wealthy woman, numerous political marriages that interconnect in complex ways could well be worthwhile.Generally though, most Zadakine women dont have massive numbers of partners of complex marriages to women who are married to women who are marriage to other women, such things do exist and get more an more complex and baffling the further up you go in Zadakine society (because those marriages become more and more important.) The marriages also become less and less about love and more and more about cementing power.FOrtunately Zadakine are great at organising and logistics, so they are very skilled at making sense of that sort of knot of relationships.

My question would be, why would a woman NOT want to marry a man?It means she gets to effectly own everything he owns and he becomes another member of her extended family who is dependant on her and has to stay faithful to her.Seems like a good arrangement. If a Zadakine woman marries a man, all the laws are set up in her favour so she is always goin to come off best. If she just has an affair with him then niether party has made any commitment, so other than sex, she doesn't really get much benefit. While some women might like such an arrangement, most would rather have one man who is loyal to them, rather than a procession of random lovers.From a business point of view, manual labour needs to be done and a husband is effectively a man indebted to work for you. Pretty handy, really!In the same way in medieval society, men married women despite the women having basically very few rights. People like having loving partners that are loyal to them. Zadakine share this desire.Just because they are considered superior and more important, does not mean Zadakine women dont have any concern for their men. If a man is treated unjustly by his wife, zadakine women might come to his defence (just as in sexist earth societies, men might feel sympathy for and support a woman who has been wronged by a man). Their laws are unfairly bias, but the Zadakine are not some race of raving feminists who hate men!Zadakine dont under value love and personal happiness. Marrying a man you love is perfectly reasonable thing to do. Obviously if later you have the option to marry again for more benefit, you should consider that carryfully. Since their women can have several partners, you can have one that you actually love and others that are there for political purposes.

Zadakine women like men who are obedient, supportive and respectful.Zadakine men like women who are confident, clever and able to take charge.Zadakine men find the women of other races are often unpleasently submissive, passive and dim in matters of business and money. Such a (from their point of view) weak willled woman would not be very attractive to a Zadakine man at all!

The All Child is a symbol of the spirit of the Zadakine race, it is simply the belief of the Zadakine that the life force of their race is held in the womb of their Goddess, making her the literal mother of their race.Why do they believe this? Why do Darsai believe Thane created himself?Why do Christians believe the holy trinity are simultaneously three and also one?It is simply a tenant of their faith. Obvious and self evident to a Zadakine. Baffling and illogical to everyone else.

My question would be, why would a woman NOT want to marry a man?It means she gets to effectly own everything he owns and he becomes another member of her extended family who is dependant on her and has to stay faithful to her.(…)From a business point of view, manual labour needs to be done and a husband is effectively a man indebted to work for you. Pretty handy, really!

Valid points I haven't considered, I must admit. Although if that man has a sister, owning all of his stuff is not so certain, I presume.

In the same way in medieval society, men married women despite the women having basically very few rights. People like having loving partners that are loyal to them. Zadakine share this desire.

I wouldn't complain if Zadakine had it like in middle ages only reversed, but there are some differences:- First and foremost, you couldn't marry a man to get a more sure way to own his stuff.- Children from out of wedlock got no right to inherit, most of the time.- Women could own, inherit and govern stuff sometimes (though I guess the same is true for Zadakine)- At that time, courtly love was the ideal, even if most marriages between nobles were political and/or economical. Therefore I'd think that in a culture where getting as rich and politically powerful as you can get (to support the children, of course!) is the ideal… yeah, you can guess the rest.

Zadakine dont under value love and personal happiness.

Well ok, I kind of assumed they shared communism's view on sacrificing present day and personal freedom for the bright future…

Ok, I made a lot of false assumptions, but I still thing you got a little carried away in the original post.

Communism? COMMUNISM?Zadakine would find the notion of communism highly offensive!That sounds like a load of dopey Tsung-Dao collectivist nonsense!The idea that the state will provide for you, rather then providing for yourself?Pooling resources to some central power that you are eternally indebted to, rather then trying to get rich for your own self and family?No competitive business?NO FREAKING CAPITALISM???So no, the Zadakine are definitely not going for any kind of communist system.The LOVE capitalism and the social advancement it allows for in their culture.

Well, perhaps bringing up communism in Zadakine's context wasn't the best idea. It's just the first thing that always pops up in my head when I hear about the ideology (not the economic system) which tells to endure hardships in present for the sake of a bright future, and I'm not even sure if it was a part of the core beliefs of communism or one if it's country-specific implementations.

It just seemed to me that Zadakine are so focused on working for the future of their children, that they aren't supposed to think much about themselves.

The Zadakine puyt family and kids first, but it doesn't mean they dont know how to have a good time.They are not like the Golta in terms of hating decadence.Utopia city has an exciting (if often dangerous) night life.As long as you are not spending beyond your means and have put plenty asside/made wise investments, you are allowed to let your hair down and enjoy life in zadakine society.

Absolutely right Renard.There are numerous criminal gangs (part of what makes Utopia city dangerous at night!)The Blue Eye Gang are especially feared in Utopia city, and assassin teams have been dispatched on more than one occasion to hunt down their members. The Zadakine don't think crime is okay and don't in any sense tolerate it, but their ultra competitive capitalism often gives people an insentive to break the rules!

Most of their wealth comes from commerce and trade, so it can be assumed that they do a lot of business with other nations. From the sounds of it though they really don't get along with anyone, and most other races seem to hold the in low regard or open hostility. Do they have any proper allies, or are their actions usually very mercenary?

What sort of resources do they have that made them so wealthy in the first place?

The Zadakine are only really strongly hated by the Nymus.Other races have a lot of negative stereotypes about them….but everyone in Harkovast has negative stereotypes of everyone else!People complain about sneaky, greedy Zados, but they still want to buy the goods and services that Zadakine merchants provide.The Zadakine can be relied on to honour treaties with other nations (that is just good business!), but will rarely commit to any kind of military agreement. They are happy to trade with other peoples but their dislike for warfare (even in a good cause) means they don't want to commit to getting drawn into foreign wars. However, they would be more then happy to support another nation by selling them weapons and supplies, acting as middle men for the hiring of mercenaries etc. Zadakine would see nothing morally wrong in supporting both sides in a war in which they had no vested interest in this way (unless they had closer business ties and treaties with one side or the other. Zadakine are not so short sighted that they ll screw over long term trade partners for a short term gain.)The Zadakine's detached view of these things makes them seem mercenary and selfish to others, but the Zadakine would argue that if everyone behaved like they do, there would be far less wars. Zadakine view ideas like martial honour, people being swift to commit to fighting each other over trivial matters and meddling in each others wars as the source of unnecessary conflict and suffering.Of course, it is possible to rile up the Zadakine to war (killing of large numbers of Zadakine will lead to cries for revenge from their families), and once incensed the Zadakine will not rest until they have received revenge on the battlefield or acceptable financial compensation.

The Zadakine territory is not especially resource rich.They are not impoverished but they don't have particularly more resources than anyone else.Their wealth has been created through clever trade, finding opportunities and new markets and the occasional sneaky underhand tactic here and there.Zadakine often claim that Nymus prosperity is based purely on the great mineral wealth in their territory, unlike Zadakine wealth which was earned through cleverness and hard work.

Mrs Vast here: Did Vast base his Zadakine All Mother goddess on his always pregnant wife???? If not, I can totally relate. And I'm clever too! Only now I have given up the fine art of procreation to devote my life to colouring harkovast!!!!!

So they act as the cunning middlemen (middlewomen?) of Vellastrom rather than actually getting involved in anything risky themselves. Good money can be made in that, just ask the Swiss!

assortedboxofchickMrs Vast here: Did Vast base his Zadakine All Mother goddess on his always pregnant wife???? If not, I can totally relate. And I'm clever too! Only now I have given up the fine art of procreation to devote my life to colouring harkovast!!!!!